August 31, 2010

Belarus works at self-sufficiency in corn

Belarus plans to become self-sufficient in corn seed by 2013, said Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

According to Alexander Lukashenko, the course of events showed that the decision once taken to expand the sowing area under this agricultural crop was not a mistake. In 2005, the country sowed nearly 480,000 hectares with corn. This figure has recently risen to 800,000 hectares. The task was both to step up corn production and satisfy the domestic demand for corn seeds, which were mostly imported before.

The president gave the instructions to construct a corn calibration plant in Mozyr District in 2004. Recently, the head of state paid a visit to the Krinichnaya experimental base to get familiar with the technological process of corn seed production.

There are two corn calibration plants in Belarus - in Mozyr District (Gomel Oblast) and Ivatsevichi District (Brest Oblast). This year, 23,000 tonnes of corn seeds were sown, including 14,000 tonnes of domestic production. In terms of crop yield, Belarusian varieties of corn are on par with imported seeds.

The first stage of the Mozyr corn calibration plant, which production capacity is 2,500 tonnes, was commissioned in February 2005. The Mozyr corn calibration plant reached the designed capacity in 2008 after the third stage (10 tonnes per year) was commissioned.

The second corn calibration plant in Ivatsevichi District was operational in 2009. The capacity of this facility is 2,500 tonnes of corn seeds per year, with a possibility to expand up to 5,000 tonnes.

In August 2007, during working trips around Minsk and Grodno Oblasts, the head of state stressed once again that it was necessary to establish domestic production of corn seeds. "Those who say that it is more profitable to buy corn abroad are absolutely wrong. It is much cheaper and more profitable to grow it at home," the Belarusian leader said then.